Persist In The Asperity Of Fire

I actually got an application sent off to the Esoteric Book Conference on Tuesday, which was their deadline.  I wasn't sure I was going to do it as I couldn't think of a bookish-enough presentation topic, and then I decided I would put in an application as a visual artist.  I'd like to share some of my alchemical photography from Notre Dame in Paris.  So, the application is in with some sample images and we'll see what happens.

I am confirmed as heading up the Mars affinity group for MayFire.  The last time this occurred the infamous Transformation Safety Agency came into being and people had to check their baggage and fly; we had a 10-year-old "Iron Man" in cardboard and aluminum foil armour shedding his symbolic lead; and "the big finale" was 'Ease on Down the Road' from the Broadway musical The Wiz, because "you don't carry nothing that might be a load..."  With that as the past precedent, there's no telling what's gonna happen this year.

Let the Calcinatory Furnace be made square, in length four foot, and three foot in breadth, and let the thickness of the Walls be half a foot; after this manner: Luna, Venus, Mars, or other Things to be calcined, must be put into Dishes or Pans of most strong Clay, such as of which Crucibles are made, that they may persist in the Asperity of Fire, even to the total Combustion of the Thing to be calcined.

- Geber, from his Book of Furnaces

I just found magickal pants that look like my peacock hair on eBay.  They are my size (meaning waist size) and are in a new-but-used state.  I made an offer a bit below the "buy now" and it was accepted.  I will hem the life out of them and they will be great.  This is the largest-sized pair of Phoenix Rising pants I've ever gotten my hands on.  I've sworn not to buy directly from the clothing designers at full price due to their sizing, which insists I am at least 6" too short for the rest of me.  I buy their pants used and do alchemical things to them.  Some might say I Frankenstein these pants.  This pair is going to be epic.  Memo to self:  order more hair color now, so it arrives before you leave for Nevada.

Went to the fabric store to get last minute things for this weekend in Portland.  Also went to see CATWS for a 2nd time, since it was playing right around the corner with a perfectly-timed matinee.  So many feels.  When I got home (Tuesday afternoon around 4ish), there was a message on the phone.  From the guy who runs the Esoteric Book Conference, and is an esoteric press/publisher, who also puts out a periodical.  They like my photos, and want to talk with me about putting them in the next issue of the Clavis Journal.  I called back.  I'll upload some stuff for them to review before I head south this weekend.  That I did not expect.